I think even good teachers are not good for all students.

Some teachers play extremely well. Extremely well. Do you think a teacher who was a child prodigy necessarily knows how to teach well? They learned so much when very young I think they may not be as good of a teacher as someone who was mediocre but worked hard in college.

People learn differently as well. If a teacher teachers/learns very differntly from you, then it is much slower to teach you. Teacher may be good, and you may be a good student, but the combination of the 2 of you may be a mismatch.

thank you jeff clef
maybe you mean muscle fatigue for good soreness
because of muscle oveuse
then rest is the best treatment
but because there is no musclr in our finger(only tendons and joint)any type of discomfort (as morodiene said)will be bad and should be avoided

Jeff, just speaking for myself here - I wouldn't be comfortable with any levels on your continuum except [1]. And I'm not even sure I'd be all that happy about [1] either. I certainly would stop and rest if I felt it.

"...Jeff, just speaking for myself here - I wouldn't be comfortable with any levels on your continuum except [1]...."

My exact point.

Well... that, and that it worries me that the teacher is trying to bully the student into doing something that could be physically harmful--- and that the student feels reluctant to stand up for himself. If I'm reading this right. Teachers are supposed to push us beyond our limitations, but there's a point when you have to say, "No...." Or, "Not now."

I agree. The "no pain, no gain" mentality does not apply to something that requires less large muscle strength and more small muscle finesse and arm weight. Not all great pianists are great teachers.

Does "my weak fingers" mean, the fingers on the weak side of the hand (4 and 5) or, all fingers are weaker than optimum?

If I remember correctly, Sandor wrote to the effect that "the fingers should be independent...from one another. Not from the hand."

Opus Maximus -So was I taught to lift fingers high. But were you taught to hold down the idle fingers? If I interpret the OP correctly, that is what his teacher recommended. It sounds very dangerous.